Weapons-Smuggling, Infiltrators Bedevil Assad Regime
The embattled Syrian regime said it faced challenges from land and sea on Saturday as security forces beat back infiltrators, Lebanese soldiers seized smuggled arms and more clashes flared — another series of blows to a teetering U.N.-backed peace plan.
This comes a day after a suicide bombing in a Damascus neighborhood killed nine people — mostly government forces.
Russia, a friend of the Syrian regime, said the perpetrators of such actions must be punished and the “terrorists must be repelled decisively.”
“Particularly alarming are attempts by the Syrian intransigent opposition is to escalate the situation in the country and foment violence even at the cost of innocent lives,” the Interior Ministry said Saturday, according to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency.